Tomorrow’s UEFA Champions League final showdown between
Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich will be the 4th instance of an
intra-national final, where 2 teams from the same country have met in the
championship clash. Each of the 4 instances has belonged to a different country
with Spain, Italy and England represented on the previous 3 occasions. Germany
will make its bow tomorrow.
Real Madrid 3-0 Valencia, 1999-2000 Final @ the
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
The very first instance was when Real Madrid met Valencia in the 2000
final. This edition saw the introduction of the second group phase, where the
top 2 teams from the 8 groups would again be divided into 4 groups and another
run of round-robin matches.
This was the pre-Galacticos era
at Real under Vicente Del Bosque and they had a fine team made up of a lot of
Spanish talent led by the likes of Raul, Fernando Morientes, Michel Salgado and
Iker Casillas. Current Real Madrid assistant manager Aitor Karanka was also
part of this team. Real Madrid topped their group suffering just one loss and
in the second group phase finished runners-up behind Bayern Munich. They
finished strongly though as they got past 2 very strong teams en route to the
final - Manchester United, who were the defending champions, in the
Quarterfinals and then Bayern Munich in the semi-finals.
Valencia weren't doing so badly
themselves with arguably their ‘Golden Generation’ of Gaizka Mendieta, Miguel
Angulo, Claudio Lopez and Santiago Canizares. Just like Real, they would win
the first group phase, ahead of Bayern Munich and finish runners-up in the
second, behind Manchester United. They trounced Lazio and Barcelona in the
quarters and semis respectively scoring 5 goals against both over the 2 legs.
The final had a tight beginning
before Madrid began to exert themselves on the game and took the lead through
Morientes. Steve McManaman had a marvelous game for Los Blancos and he scored
the 2nd with a spectacular volley. Raul then rounded it off with a 3rd
goal on 75 minutes when Real caught Valencia napping on the counter. It was
Real’s 8th European Cup.
Steve McManaman was voted the Man
of the Match. Incidentally, he became the first Englishman to win the tournament
with a foreign club. Raul finished joint top scorer with 10 goals. Valencia
finished runners-up again the next year when they lost on penalties to Bayern
Munich after it ended 1-1 in regulation and extra time.
AC Milan 0-0 Juventus, 2002-03 Final @ Old
Trafford, Manchester
Juventus came into the final
fresh from being crowned Serie A champions; Milan on the other hand had
finished 4th, 16 points behind the Turin club. In the season
head-to-head, Juve had won the home game while drawing away at the San Siro.
They had also beaten Milan in the Coppa Italia semi-finals.
The 2-group phases structure was
still on; Juventus topped their first group while finishing runners-up to
Manchester United in the second. They ended Spanish hopes in the competition as
they beat Barcelona in the quarters and Real Madrid in the semis. Influential
midfielder Pavel Nedved though would miss the final after picking up a booking
in the 2nd leg against Real.
Milan came in winning both the
groups including a strong second group phase pitted with Real Madrid and
Borussia Dortmund. After beating Ajax, they had to contend with neighbours
Inter in a Milan derby semi-final. It ended level 1-1 on aggregate with Milan
progressing on the away goals rule.
The final was a game of few
chances and one of the dullest of the last decade and a half. Both teams had
excellent defences which ensured that chances were at a premium. Andriy
Shevchenko had a goal disallowed in the first half though replays showed that
Rui Costa had not been in an offside position.
Current Juve manager Antonio
Conte came on as a sub and saw a header clatter the crossbar in what was Juve’s
best chance of the game. Andrea Pirlo too struck the post for Milan.
With no result even after extra
time, the match went to penalties and It was a tense, tense affair. Juventus
only made 1 of their first 4 penalties as Dida saved the efforts of David
Trezeguet, Marcelo Zalayeta and Paolo Montero. Gigi Buffon was doing his best
to keep Juve in the game as he saved from Clarence Seedorf and Kakhaber
Kaladze. Alessandro Del Piero converted the 5th spot kick for Juve,
but so did Shevchenko to clinch the trophy for the Rossoneri. It was Milan’s 6th
European Cup.
Paolo Maldini was named the Man
of the Match for the final. Filippo Inzaghi was the 2nd highest goal
scorer with 10 goals behind Ruud Van Nistelrooy who bagged 12 for Manchester
United. Shevchenko became the first Ukrainian footballer to take home a
European Cup winners medal.
Manchester United 1-1 Chelsea, 2007-08 final @
Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow
England’s top 2 teams met in the
Moscow final of 2008. Manchester United had just won their 17th
league title finishing 2 points ahead of their final opponents Chelsea. Each
team had won their home game in the league, while Chelsea had the latest win
after beating United 1-0 in the FA Cup final days earlier.
Man United went unbeaten the
whole tournament. They drew just 1 game in winning their group comfortably.
They then beat Lyon in the Round of 16, which had now replaced the previous format
and Roma in the quarters. Frank Rijkaard’s Barcelona stood between United and
their 3rd European Cup final. The teams had identical records going
into the semi-final, each having won eight and drawn two of their ten games,
scoring 18 goals and conceding just 5. Cristiano Ronaldo missed an early
penalty in the 1st leg at the Camp Nou and that leg ended 0-0.
United edged into the finals with a tight 1-0 home win thanks to Paul Scholes’
long range stunner.
Chelsea had seen a change of
manager after Jose Mourinho parted ways in between the season. Interim manager
Avram Grant did a good job though as he kept the Blues in the title hunt in the
league and guided them to the FA Cup and Champions League finals. Chelsea lost
just the one game in the tournament, against Fenerbahce in the quarterfinals.
After getting past Olympiacos and Fenerbahce, Chelsea took on Rafa Benitez and
his defending champions Liverpool. This was the fourth year in succession that
these teams had met in the Champions League. After drawing the first leg 1-1
away, the Blues won a tense 2nd leg 3-2 after extra time to make the
team’s first visit to the Champions League final.
After taking time to feel each other
out, the final picked up pace with Ronaldo’s opener on 26 minutes. United had 2
good chances to extend the lead, but Petr Cech came to Chelsea’s rescue with
some magnificent saves. Frank Lampard equalized for Chelsea in the closing
minutes of the first half after Michael Essien’s initial shot had deflected off
Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic.
The goal swung the momentum in
Chelsea’s favour and the Blues dominated for much of the second half. Drogba
went close to giving them the lead when his effort hit the post. Ryan Giggs had
a chance to get the winner for United, but John Terry made a last ditch tackle
to prevent it. It was end –to-end in extra time as both teams went looking for
the winner. Late in extra time, Drogba was sent off for a slap on United’s
Vidic.
In the shootout, Ronaldo missed
his penalty which gave Chelsea the advantage. Blues captain John Terry stepped
up to take the 5th penalty, but he would miss as he lost his footing
which saw his mis-hit shot hit the outside of the right post and go wide. In
sudden death, Edwin Van der Sar saved Nicolas Anelka’s shot to win it for
United.
Van Der Sar took the Man of the
Match award. Cristiano Ronaldo finished top scorer with 8 goals.
Borussia Dortmund vs Bayern Munich, 2012-13 final @ Wembley,
London
One-sided final like the 2000
edition or nail biters like the other two? We will find out on Saturday. The 2
league meetings between the sides both ended 1-1 and Bayern beat Dortmund 1-0
in the quarterfinals of the DFB Pokal Cup.
Dortmund will be without star play-maker Mario Götze due to injury which means he has already played his last
game for Dortmund; he will be joining Bayern Munich in the summer.
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